


winter in the light (summer in the shade)

by ratpoet



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: (a little bit of both), Angst, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Slice of Life, Vignettes, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 20:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6166651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratpoet/pseuds/ratpoet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love is a snowman we built together, and yes, spring is coming, but not just yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	winter in the light (summer in the shade)

**Author's Note:**

> Summary from [this strip](http://asofterworld.com/index.php?id=1083).

Fall leaves early, that year. All the leaves are still changing colour, when the air starts smelling different. Crisper. And before they know it, it’s winter.

“Guys, it’s snowing!” Chowder shouts one day, bursting into the Haus with red cheeks and wet shoulders. The room immediately bursts into cheers.

“Coats first!” Bitty shouts from the kitchen, always one step ahead. “Chill, bro,” Nursey laughs, and Dex grits his teeth out of principle, but it’s his first snow at Samwell, so he suppresses his groan.

“Dex, come on!” Chowder shouts, as Nursey grabs Dex’s arms and pulls him up. Dex shoves his hands away, but Nursey only grins at him.

And the world isn’t white, not even nearly, and the snowflakes scattering with the wind resemble crumpled tissues more than confetti. But almost the entire university is outside, the air is tinged with the smell of bonfire smoke, and the barks of the trees look a little less bare than they did a day ago, so even Dex is a bit impressed.

“Snowball fight!” Nursey shouts, just as a lump of dirty ice clocks Dex on the face. Chowder shrieks as Nursey gets him, too. And Dex is smiling under the snow, even as his cheeks turn numb.

________

 

The cold makes everything softer. Wood creaks when Dex walks up the stairs, so he walks quieter. His stomach drops every time Nursey smiles at him, so he talks faster.

He could soldier on. He could open the can of worms already, lay his heart out on a table and demand answers, but starting forest fires is a job for the summer.

So, here it is: a mellowing. Rough edges smoothed over. Tart mouths, sweet aftertastes. It’s- new, for him. Different.

“Isn’t hot chocolate a little too mainstream for you?” Dex asks Nursey. His skin is itching for the push, and there’s nobody else around.

“If you want some, you just have to ask,” Nursey says, smirking. Dex flips him off, and Nursey rolls his eyes. But then Nursey hands him the cup and, what the hell, his fingers are icy anyway, so he takes it.

Winter’s for hibernation- so be it. He won't be running out of arguments tomorrow.

________

Hockey season starts in earnest once December does, and he can’t put it off any longer. Nursey checks Dex every chance he gets, and Dex returns the favour. Dex swears when Nursey trips him over, but the milliseconds of contact are enough to make up for twisted ankles and sore skin, and Dex isn’t complaining.

Dex leaves his shoes unlaced every night, and stops pressing his feet to the bed when he sleeps. Nursey’s snores always pass through the walls, and Dex stops putting up pillows as buffers.

Dex won't admit it, but he’s started making a point of showering just after Nursey does. The mirror is always clouded over, so he does not have to make a show of facing his own eyes, and the shampoo has always been communal. There are as many excuses in the back of his head as there are freckles on his body, but. There’s comfort in Nursey’s coffee-and-dirt smell, in sharing heat even if he isn’t touching skin.

The Haus smells of maple syrup more often than not, and Dex cooks whenever Bitty isn’t around. He makes a pie one time, asking Nursey to keep an eye on the timer, and they need Chowder’s help to dispel the smoke.

So they make another pie.

Nursey wraps scarves around trees to click ‘artsy’ photographs, and Dex laughs at him, but when Nursey brings an old polaroid home for a weekend, Dex smiles into the lens anyway. They don’t put dates on the prints.

It feels a lot like shooting bullets into the sky and hoping they ricochet off clouds. The minutes don’t stop. He could swallow crushed ice and call it glass, but the other shoe doesn’t drop, and he’s tired of pretending.

So the days keep slipping by, and it’s the first time in a long time that Dex hasn’t had to keep marking dates off calendars.

________

Dex’s mother hands him a package on Christmas. It’s all the way from New York, and that’s enough to get Dex’s heart thudding in his chest like he’s fifteen again, and about to be kissed by a boy he pretends to hate.

Dex tears off the brown paper to find a clean, white box underneath. When he opens it, about fifteen plastic roaches fall out onto his lap, and the warmth in his chest has nothing to do with the eggnog.

He’s never been happier about a gag gift. And he’s never thought less about ordering a life-sized dummy off the internet, either.

________

When the pond freezes over, it’s a big deal. The whole team tramps to the beach one Saturday, and every single one of them gasps when they see it. Snow clings to the skinny branches of old trees, and the streets grow glossy with frost, but the frozen pond is something else entirely.

Ice this clean could blind the sun. Their bodies cast long shadows over the ice, and there’s a rainbow right at the edge of the pond.

“Holy shit,” Nursey breathes under his breath, face splitting into an easy grin as he turns towards Dex, and Dex can't help but smile back.

“Twirl for us, Bitty!” Shitty shouts, and Bitty obliges happily. Ransom and Holster whoop as Jack moves forward and claps Bitty on the back.

Nursey bends over to tie up his shoelaces, his jersey a perfect arc, and heat rises to Dex’s cheeks. The bend of Nursey’s body, the movement of his hips, the way light bounces off his eyelashes- Dex has been cataloguing details about Nursey for a while. He doesn’t think about it.

“You used to figure skate, didn’t you?” Nursey says, straightening up and turning to Dex. Words always leave his mouth sounding like rises, but Dex can't tell if this is supposed to be one, and it throws him for a second.

“Way back in high school, yeah,” Dex answers.

Nursey raises an eyebrow at him. “Show me?” he says, and it starts off sounding like a challenge, but there’s an inflection at the end, and the words feel heavy. They sink in the air, like questions, and for once, Dex has no answers. This- it’s…weird. Uncharted territory.

“I don’t even remember how to,” Dex says, flushing.

“Where there’s a Will, there’s a way,” Nursey smirks, and it’s not the first time he’s made that joke, but Dex laughs anyway. And maybe it’s the way Nursey keeps looking at him in that expectant way of his, like he thinks Dex can give him the world, that makes Dex moves forward automatically, catching hold of Nursey’s sleeves.

He careens them both around, throwing his weight around Nursey, so they’re both sliding on the ice, skates slipping as they try to gain balance. Dex figures they can't get their feet wet when the water’s frozen.

“Shit, Dex,” Nursey whispers, and the minutes don’t stop, but there’s a moment when everything is still, and Dex can feel his fingertips. Nursey’s right in front of him, bare, easy, sunlight catching on his back as he throws his head back and laughs.

And there’s something about the way Nursey moves, the lines of his skin, the angle of his trajectory- there’s something about Nursey that Dex thinks might just be enough to thaw away all of his walls.

But the minutes don’t stop, and the moment passes, and then Chowder’s charging at both of them, and they’re slipping on ice and somebody’s saying something, and all the wind’s been knocked out of Dex’s body, but he’s laughing anyway.

They fall in a heap on the pond. There’s somebody’s hair in Dex’s mouth, and another laugh caught between his teeth.

The skies part for a second, and they’re enveloped in light.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated <3


End file.
